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(Lucas's MacLifeHacks #23)Is your Mac startup disk full? Here's the quick fix to free up space! Reclaim the space eaten up by 'Other'.Subscribe for more life. Open Applications folder. Click on the app and drag it to Trash Bin. You can also right click on the app and use Move to Trash option. Either, you can open Launch Pad. Click and hold on the app. After 2-3 seconds of hold, you’ll see a cross sign on the icon while the icons are in jiggle mode.
- How to free up space on a Mac?
- How to see the used Storage on a Mac?
- How to Fix Mac Startup Disk Full with pCloud Drive?
- Note: If you have very low disk storage you must do the following:
- Example:
If you are a Mac user and you have a smaller HDD Macbook, chances are you have seen this message at least once: “Your startup disk is almost full” or you want to know how to free up space.
In this article, I will explain why this happens and how to never see this warning ever again!
How to free up space on a Mac?
What is a “Mac Startup Disk”?
Your Mac startup disk is a volume or a partition of a drive that contains a usable operating system. You can set your Mac to automatically use a specific startup volume, or you can temporarily override this choice at startup.
What this means is that the startup disk is the “home” of all the files needed for starting your Mac and using it.
Without a startup disk, you will not be able to switch on your computer.
Why is my Mac “Startup Disk Full”?
In short, you have too many files. When this happens, it slows down all processes on your computer – see, in order to complete some tasks, your computer needs space to store temporary files and system files. When this happens and you run low on storage, the operating system needs to decide whether it can delete some files in order to complete the task. Most of the time this is not possible and the computer crashes or becomes very, very slow.
It is recommended that a startup disk should never be at above 85% of its capacity in order to work properly.
How to see the used Storage on a Mac?
If you want to see the exact types of files that are using the storage on your Mac:
Click the Apple in the top-left corner
Click on “Storage”
Currently, I have 73.9 GB used and 425.2 GB Free.
Most of my used storage is from “Other”
What is “Other” in the Mac Storage?
According to Apple, in OS X El Capitan or earlier versions, “Other” files are those that your Mac doesn’t recognize as belonging to any other category. These include files within disk images or archives, data stored by apps such as Contacts or Calendar, and app plug-ins or extensions. When your Mac is running in Safe Mode, all files are categorized as Other.
How to Fix Mac Startup Disk Full with pCloud Drive?
What is pCloud Drive
pCloud Drive is a desktop application that creates a secure virtual drive on your computer, which you can use to easily store, access and work with your files in the cloud.
To add files and folders to your pCloud Drive, simply drag and drop* your data into your virtual drive. You can then be sure that they are safely stored in the cloud and synchronized on all of your devices.
*for this to work fast you need to have at least some free storage on your startup disk. If you don’t, keep reading!
pCloud Drive provides a number of additional functionalities, such as integrated file sharing and synchronization through your computer.
Note: If you have very low disk storage you must do the following:
Choose the folder you want to Sync with pCloud:
Click on the pCloud icon and choose Sync to pCloud:
Create a folder on pCloud Drive:
Wait for the Sync to be completed:
This is very Important! After the Sync is finished, you must stop it with the cross icon:
After you stopped the Sync you can delete the files you just synchronized:
You can go to pCloud Drive and see the files you synced and use them as if they are on your computer! (A green icon means everything is synced.)
The app significantly eases your work upon performing file operations in the cloud, because with pCloud Drive you can work with your files using any software on your computer.
What this means is that if I have a vacation video in pCloud Drive I can watch it with no problem with the default video player on my computer. In my case VLC Player.
The best thing is that since the video is in pCloud Drive it is not actually on my computer but it’s in the cloud and does not take ANY of my Startup Disk Space!
How To Free Space On Mac Startup Disk Download
Another awesome thing is that I can watch this video also on my phone with the pCloud mobile apps OR if I’m using a different computer that does not have pCloud Drive, I can watch it via Chrome, Firefox or any other internet browser. I just need to go to my.pcloud.com and sign in. Here is what I see:
Same thing works for:
– Documents – I can open and edit them with any text editor with pCloud Drive or access them from any of the other apps. The same works for worksheets, PDFs, presentations etc.
– Photos – I can open them, see them or edit them with Photoshop or any other image editor.
– Audio files – I can listen to them on my default music player or with pCloud mobile and web apps music player. I can even create playlists within pCloud.
– Every other type of file – As long as I have an app or a program to open the file with, there is no problem for pCloud Drive.
Nice right?!
What this means is that you can move all the files that are using your Mac Startup Disk Storage in pCloud Drive.
That way they WILL NOT use any of the space on your computer and you will still have access to them and use them with the apps installed.
Example:
I have a 512GB SSD Macbook Pro Retina. I also have a pCloud Premium account which is 500GB of storage. This makes my Macbook capable of storing 1TB worth of files.
Sharing with pCloud Drive
You can share any file or folder that you have in pCloud Drive.
You just right-click on the file or folder you want to share and choose if you want to invite someone to the folder or create a so called Download link.
This way you can collaborate with people or share the vacation photos and videos with your friends for example.
pCloud Speed
When you use pCloud Drive, you don’t even understand that your files are not stored locally. That’s because of the super high speed that we offer for uploading and downloading files. We compared our upload and download speed with the ones of Dropbox and here are the results for 1.12GB file:
pCloud Security
To guarantee your files’ safety, pCloud uses TLS/SSL encryption, applied when information is transferred from your device to the pCloud servers.
Your files are stored on at least three server locations in a highly secure data storage area.
Optionally, you can subscribe for pCloud Crypto and have your most important files encrypted and password protected. We provide the so-called client-side encryption, which, unlike server-side encryption, means that no one except you will have the keys for file decryption.
Conclusion
A lot of Mac users have the same frustrating problem. Startup Disk Storage fills up quickly on smaller versions (128GB and 256GB) and if you use it for work, you can fill up a 512GB Mac very fast too. Especially if you are a designer or a video editor for example, and work with large files. And even if you are not creating huge files, with the pace we are creating information is growing very fast:
Just think about this: smartphones and cameras that can shoot RAW files and in 4K, which means you’ll have photos and videos of amazing quality – but they will also take a lot of memory so the more space you have, the better.
pCloud Drive helps you virtually add storage to your Mac (or any PC for that matter). You can move your photos, videos, music, documents any other kinds of files there and use them as if they are on your device with the apps you are used to. Also, you can access them on a smartphone via the pCloud mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows 10 Mobile, and in a web browser when you go to the website and sign in.
P.S.
If you never want to run out of storage on your iPhone too, read this.
System cleanup in one click
Once “Your disk is almost full” notification pops up on a screen, it’s time to do some work. Running low on storage might cause your Mac to slow down or behave strangely. This usually happens if you have too many outdated files, old logs, caches, and apps you no longer use. What makes the situation challenging is that most of these Mac storage gobblers are system files you never actually see.
By keeping the Mac startup disk tidy in the first place, you can avoid numerous issues that hamper performance. In this article, we provide step-by-step instructions on how to avoid the “startup disk full” problem. Spoiler: Moving files to Trash isn’t going to fix it.
What is a startup disk on Mac?
Simply put, the Mac startup disk is a hard drive containing your operating system and all the apps installed on Mac. Pretty big deal. Since it’s essentially your main disk drive, your Mac “starts up” from this disk (hence the name). Mac power users often use external hard drives in addition to the main one, but an average user has only one — the startup disk.
What does “Your disk is almost full” mean?
The warning message or a notification about “Mac startup disk almost full” lets you know there’s little space left on the main drive. The maximum amount of storage your files can occupy on a startup disk should be 85%. Anything that goes beyond that might cause performance issues. Read more info about scratch disks are full.
How to check disk space on Mac
First of all, ensure you know the name of your startup disk. It’s easy if you only use one internal drive. Otherwise, you should check it. Click on the Apple logo > About This Mac.
In the Overview section, you’ll see “Storage” with a name next to it. In most cases, it’s called “MacHD,” “Macintosh HD,” or something like that. This is the name of your startup disk.
To find out how much space you have left on a startup disk:
- Click on the Apple logo > About This Mac
- Access the Storage pane
- See available storage.
The storage bar also shows details on what types of files are eating up the used storage.
As you see from the screenshot, total storage is 500GB. If your computer has two startup disks (which is rare but possible), the storage is divided between the two — 250GB on each. On my Mac, around 75% of the storage is free, which means I don’t have to worry about the Mac startup disk full issue just yet. In case you have less than 15%, it’s time to free up some space and let your Mac breathe.
Apple has a built-in optimization feature for basic storage control. This alone can save you lots of disk space. Based on Apple recommendations, it allows you to set up automatic Trash cleaning, keep your movies and TV shows in iCloud (available on demand), or automatically remove movies you’ve already watched. To access the feature, click on the Apple logo > About This Mac > Storage > Manage. You can customize optimization settings flexibly, according to your needs.
How to fix “startup disk full” on Mac
Unfortunately, Apple’s storage optimization doesn’t help with deleting tons of hidden files and system junk. And that’s the trickiest part. From old caches to backups, there are lots of unneeded files suffocating storage on Mac — most of them you never see. In the following section, we explain how to dive under your Mac’s hood to remove it all step by step.
Empty the Trash
This sounds obvious. If you want to get rid of the unneeded stuff, get rid of the files you’ve already deleted. You probably know moving files to the Trash folder doesn’t mean they stop eating up storage. They are still there, just in a different spot on Mac. Here’s how to clean up Trash (on some Macs, it’s called Bin):
- Ctrl + Click on the Trash icon in the Dock
- Select Empty Trash
- Confirm emptying your Trash folder.
That’s it. If you want to check what’s in your Trash before deleting files, open it first, and then empty Trash by clicking on the button in the top right corner.
Delete app cache
Caches are system files created every time an app or a browser performs a specific task. Both browser and app caches are in fact supposed to speed up your Mac. They are kind of like task shortcuts — by remembering how an app or browser performed the task last time, they help perform it faster the next time you do it.
At the same time, app caches are files, which means they generate tons of system junk. When there are too many stored on Mac, they can cause the “startup disk almost full” problem. This is why we recommend clearing cache regularly. Here’s how to do it manually on Mac:
- Open Finder
- Click on Go > Go to Folder in the Finder menu
- Type in ~/Library/Caches
- Access cache folders and delete the files
- Then, go back and do the same for /Library/Caches without ~
Some resources don’t recommend deleting cache from the “Apple” folders. Indeed, by manually deleting caches, you might erroneously remove some important system files. There are two ways you can avoid trouble here: 1) Back up cache folders before deleting them (this is a bit tricky while backups eat up storage, just as caches); 2) Use an advanced tool like CleanMyMac X that scans your Mac for clutter and deletes only those files that are safe to delete. Here’s how it works:
- Open CleanMyMac X
- Click on System Junk under Cleanup
- Press Scan
- Once the scan finishes, hit Clean to remove caches.
Delete downloads
The Downloads folder is a go-to spot for all the files you save on your Mac. For sure, it has lots of stuff you might no longer need in it. To see how much space downloaded files occupy, navigate to Downloads via Finder. Click on the filter icon to filter by size and start deleting the largest files.
Back up large files
You can spend hours on the most tedious cleanup in your life, but there will still be files left that are huge Mac space gobblers — and you can’t delete them. In this case, we recommend moving large-sized files to cloud backup. You can either use iCloud (Apple’s optimization feature provides this option) or go with your favorite cloud service like Dropbox or Google Drive.
To back up files to iCloud:
- Click on the Apple logo > About This Mac
- Access Storage > Manage
- Enable iCloud backup.
The problem with iCloud is it saves all of your files, photos, and messages to backup — which is obviously a huge waste of cloud storage. If you want a more customizable setup, use Dropshare. It’s a robust file-sharing app that works with all cloud hosting services of your choice.
Dropshare allows you to drag and drop any large-sized file to cloud storage on the go. So that once you come across a file that could potentially be clogging your storage, you move it to Dropshare instantly. The app is available from the menu bar, so it’s hard to imagine a more convenient solution. If you use it via Setapp, you also get 10GB of complimentary storage included in your plan for free.
In case you want a copy of your entire disk or a large amount of data, use an advanced backup app like Get Backup Pro. It allows you to create bootable disk clones and keeps your files protected for when you’re switching to a new macOS or moving large-sized files to a new location.
Clean duplicates in Photos
You don’t have to be an Instagram influencer to have tons of photos stored on your Mac. Sometimes, you just have to download the same file twice (or twenty times). Duplicates tend to pile up, which is not good in your startup disk full situation. Here’s how you can manually find and remove duplicated files in Photos — just as anywhere on your Mac:
- Open Finder
- Navigate to File > New Smart Folder
- Click on the plus button in the upper-right corner
- Select file type (“Image” if you want to find duplicate photos)
- Click to organize by name — this will help you identify files with duplicate names.
There’s an easier way to do this with Gemini app, an advanced duplicate files finder. Instead of removing files manually, it allows you to scan for duplicates and bulk delete all of them in a click. Here’s how it works:
- Open Gemini
- Add or drop folders you want to check
- Click “Scan for Duplicates”
- Allow access to the folder if needed
- After the scan finishes, click “Review Duplicates”
- Hit Remove once you’re ready to delete duplicate files.
Remove logs
System logs are plain-text files that your Mac stores to help troubleshoot macOS and app problems. Basically, they include all events logged by the operating system. And there are a lot of them on your Mac. Just like you do with caches, you need to get rid of logs to free up disk space:
- Open Finder
- Click on Go > Go to Folder in the Finder menu
- Type in ~/Library/Logs
- Access logs folders and remove them from Mac.
Uninstall unused apps
Some apps occupy huge amounts of disk space — and it’s all for nothing since you don’t even use them. The best way to uninstall apps is with CleanMyMac X Uninstaller. The thing with deleting apps is you can’t just move them to Trash. They usually leave behind lots of caches, logs, and other system junk. CleanMyMac X picks up all the files associated with an app and makes sure they are removed from Mac:
- Open CleanMyMac X > Uninstaller
- Check the boxes next to apps you want to uninstall
- Delete the apps in batch by pressing Uninstall.
Delete language files
Make Space On Startup Disk
Many apps you install contain language packs (or localization files) that allow you to switch between languages. Too many “multilingual” applications might cause the startup disk full on Mac. Since you don’t really need an app to cover more than one or two languages, you can delete the rest. Here’s how to do it:
- Open Finder > Applications
- Ctrl + Click on an app and select “Show Package Contents”
- Click on Contents > Resources
- Look for files ending in .lproj — these are language packs you can remove if you don’t need them.
Clean your desktop
To avoid the disk full on Mac (as well as make your Mac’s screen a pleasure to look at), clean up desktop regularly. This is one of the easiest fixes — simply move anything you no longer need from the desktop to Trash. Be careful with the apps, though. As we’ve mentioned before, they will leave lots of traces on your Mac, so you’ll need to dive deeper to remove everything (or use CleanMyMac X for the job).
If you’re a pro in desktop cluttering, get an app that can help you remove it all automatically. Spotless is a great choice. You can just drag and drop files off your desktop onto the app’s pop-up drawer in your Menu bar and set the rules to organize the files by tucking them into their own folders or moving them to Trash. You can create automated tasks to sort your files on a daily or weekly schedule and remove the files you no longer need without you having to do it manually every time.
Remove iOS backups
If you’ve ever synced your iPhone with your computer, you probably have a few iOS backups hidden somewhere on your Mac. You can remove those manually:
- Open Finder
- Click on Go > Go to Folder in the Finder menu
- Type in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
- Delete all the backup files.
Mac Startup Disk Full
Tip: If you’re missing iTunes for easy iOS sync on Catalina, try AnyTrans for iOS. It’s a great tool for file transferring that takes your content from iPhone to Mac and back, effortlessly. AnyTrans also has a native backup manager, which, unlike iTunes, never overwrites old iOS backups. So you can safely copy your iOS content, without generating any extra clutter.
The notorious “startup disk full Mac” is a complex issue. Usually, there’s more than one thing clogging your storage. To make sure you not only get rid of the unneeded stuff but also prevent files from piling up, there are a few cleanup processes you should run regularly.
The apps like CleanMyMac X, Spotless, Dropshare, Gemini, Get Backup Pro, and AnyTrans make a perfect toolkit to automate these processes, effortlessly. While they are all part of Setapp, you can install and use them for 7 days free. Hopefully, this helps you figure out the hungriest storage gobblers.